Are you a Yellowstone fan longing for the return of your beloved Duttons? You are not alone! Luckily, Peacock and USA Network are helping fill that Montana-sized hole in your heart with their equally compelling and drama-fueled reality series, The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys. Set in the world of high-stakes farming and ranching, this series opens viewers’ eyes to real challenges people in the industry face daily.
At the helm of it all is Steven McBee, the family patriarch and owner of the McBee Farm and Cattle in Gallatin, Missouri, who is tasked with running day-to-day operations and securing the capital to keep the business afloat. At his side are his four sons—Steven Jr., Cole, Jesse, and Brayden— who are all integral to the success of the various parts of the company, including McBee’s Coffee N Carwash and McBee Meat Company. McBee, who describes himself as a “businessman,” “entrepreneur” and an “opportunist,” started his multi-faceted company at the tender age of 22. At 51 and recently divorced, he is putting every aspect of his life out there, personally, and professionally. “I certainly never thought I would be dating multiple women or on a TV reality show,” McBee mused.
That’s right. In addition to propelling McBee Farm and Cattle to the brink of becoming a billion-dollar business, McBee is also juggling two dynamic women: McBee Farm and Cattle CFO Galyna Saltkovska and spunky waitress Brooke. After being married for so long, McBee made it clear to both women he wasn’t interested in anything exclusive. However, when Brooke “accidentally” crashed Saltkovska’s company vehicle after McBee bafflingly loaned it to her, Saltkovska was crushed and furious. “[The car’s] still not fixed,” McBee revealed. But will McBee be able to repair his relationship with his business partner and sometimes romantic partner Saltkovska? “I guess you’ll just have to tune in to see where that goes,” teased McBee.
DECIDER spoke to McBee over Zoom to talk about putting the family on TV, his relationships with his sons, and the obvious Yellowstone comparisons.
DECIDER: Yellowstone fans, like myself, are really going to enjoy this series. What, besides the obvious, do you think is going to draw that audience into your show?
STEVEN MCBEE: The real-life struggles of the farm and ranch, for sure. That and my family . The boys all have such different personalities. Just like Jamie and Beth and Kayce, but maybe not as drastic [laughs]. It’s ironic just how many similarities you can draw between the two shows. We’ve had many, many, many people that know us very well tell us: “you guys are the real Yellowstone.” People were saying that long before we were approached to film anything.
No matter what the drama is—personal, financial, business—you are completely open and honest about everything that’s going on with you and the family. Were you at all apprehensive about sharing these struggles with the world?
I deal with 30 banks, right? I have to borrow money every day. We get into a lot of debt to fund our new businesses and everything. I’ve never had capital partners, so I had some concerns. Banks also get nervous when a guy goes through a divorce, which I did. Real nervous. I made it through to the other side, and a lot of guys don’t without filing bankruptcy.
Now I’m out here, recently divorced and single, doing this reality show. My biggest concern is that my bankers could watch this show and be concerned by what they see. Will they see that I am focused on the businesses and ensuring their loans are going to be repaid? Or will they think that I’m in a midlife crisis because I’m drinking a little socially and dating?
That’s a very real concern, but the show reveals that you do a great job of balancing your personal life with the demands of your businesses. You clearly are a businessman who juggles so many responsibilities successfully. You are so present at every minute of the day for your company and your family.
I am.
Not to just talk about Yellowstone, but Taylor Sheridan’s fictional show does touch on issues that are extremely real and pressing to running your business, like the financial burden. I can’t imagine how stressful it is to find or create additional revenue sources. Is that partly why you said yes to filming your own reality series?
Yeah, for sure. I’ve had my own business for 30 years. I started very young, at 22, and I’m an entrepreneur and an opportunist. If there’s an opportunity to help promote and build our brand, that’s something I’m going to jump at. However, there’s no business that we started because of the show. Even without the show, all our businesses would still be running.
How is the chain of McBee’s Coffee N Carwash doing?
Normally, they say it takes 30 months to get to what they call a “break even,” and we’ve beaten that. We had a call the other day with people from private equity company out of Chicago, and they were shocked we were able to build all these locations on our own without New York Wall Street money. I explained that I was willing to give my PG, which is a personal guarantee. We guaranteed the farm against the car wash. We literally bet our farm on it.
It’s refreshing to see how candid you are about the risks you have to take financially to grow the McBee empire.
I honestly feel that this is the most realistic reality show, and I’ve done my research. I’m a very transparent guy, sometimes to a fault. What you see is what you get. No one had to add in any drama or put on airs. When the first production companies came to the farm to film Joe Millionaire with Steven, Jr., they were just in awe of our lives. They told us, “You guys are a walking reality show.” They said: “Everything you have going, your family dynamics, the pressure, the businesses, this is insane.” “We couldn’t record it all in 10 years,” they told us. And that’s the truth.
You all were just there ready for the cameras!
Yeah, they came to us. Multiple production companies reached out after Joe Millionaire. Steven and I were meeting over which one we thought would be the best fit for us. Yeah. The production company that shot Joe Millionaire reached back out after a while, but we were already looking at three or four other offers. When we signed the contract with Jeff Jenkins Productions—literally the same day— the first company called back and said, “Hey, we’re ready to start on this.” We were like, “We already signed elsewhere.” It was pretty crazy.
Wow! I can’t let you leave without asking about Galyna and Brooke. At 51, did you ever expect to be juggling two dynamic women?
No, I did not. My first priority in life is my family. I never filed for divorce. She divorced me. I’ll love her every day for the rest of my life because she’s the mother of my kids. I never certainly thought at 51 I would be dating multiple women or on a TV reality show. Never even crossed my mind.
I know Jesse talks about how the end of your marriage affected him and how he views his own relationship. Obviously, Brayden was very impacted by the divorce as well. Were you surprised by what they had to say?
As candid and open as we are as a family, this show dives in deeper than I ever could have imagined. We have a lot of tough conversations about stuff we don’t always talk about. It broke my heart to hear Brayden say that he didn’t feel all that close to me, but that’s how he really feels. He said that without me there, of course. The producers pull you aside and interview you over and over separately and then you start saying how you really feel. They’re almost like a counselor. At the end of the day, businesses, monetary things, they can all go away. My boys mean everything to me , so that was hard for me to hear.
It sounds like the show has been therapeutic for you and your family. You’re being given the opportunity to address issues that you’ve been putting off or maybe you didn’t even realize were there.
100%. I didn’t know Brayden felt like that. I certainly go out of my way to try to include him, but he was always the youngest at home. I took the older three boys everywhere with me, and he just seemed to always stay with mom and grandma.
Hopefully, this show will be healing for your family. Before I let you go, I do want to circle back to my initial question about your love triangle with Galyna and Brooke. Were you and Galyna about to repair your relationship after the crash fiasco?
Galyna is a super human being. She is one of the best people I’ve ever met in my life. She’s also had a very, very challenging life. I love Galyna unconditionally, and I would do anything for her and her daughter, always. I would say you’ll just have to tune in to see what happens.
Forgive me for making my last question a shady one, but is there any part of you that thinks Brooke might have crashed the company car on purpose to make your relationship known to Galyna?
No, not even a little bit. Not for a second. It was a serious crash. The car’s still not fixed. I could FaceTime you and show you the Escalade right now. We are ordering parts and getting it fixed now. I can see why people could think that, but it’s just not the case.
The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys airs weekly on Monday nights at 11/10c on USA Network or you can stream the series in its entirety on Peacock